AURORA-- One team from the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy® (IMSA) received the highest ranking possible in the 14th annual international High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling (HiMCM). Their performance placed IMSA among the top seven schools in the world in this year’s competition.

The IMSA team of Henry Deng of DeKalb, Matt Gietl of Batavia, Andrew Ta of Naperville and Matt Yang of Hanover Park received the rank of “National Outstanding.”

Only seven teams out of 435 that competed worldwide received this ranking. In addition, two other IMSA teams received the rank of “Regional Outstanding.” Students on these teams included Webster Guan of Lisle, Aditya Karan of Naperville, Nilesh Kavthekar of Naperville, Peter Lu of Lisle, Nolan Maloney of Naperville, Abhinav Reddy of Naperville, Nishith Reddy of Naperville and Stanley Yuan of Naperville.

Although international studies generally place the United States in the middle of the pack compared to other countries, IMSA President Dr. Max McGee noted that IMSA's students have proven to be among the best in the world, in international competitions.

"For the seventh consecutive year, IMSA's math teams have received the highest ranking possible in this international event showcasing how mathematics can be used to solve some of the world's most challenging scientific, economic and social problems," McGee said. "IMSA students and coaches, both past and present, are to be commended for this amazing achievement."

The High School Mathematical Contest in Modeling is a 36-hour contest where each team is expected to solve a mathematical modeling problem. Each team then prepares and submits a paper discussing their solution to the problem.

IMSA’s “National Outstanding” team had to develop a comprehensive 10-year plan including costs, payloads, and flight schedules to maintain the International Space Station.

Outstanding teams will have their solution papers (or their solution abstracts) published in COMAP’s Consortium newsletter among other places. More information on the contest can be found at http://www.comap.com/highschool/contests/himcm/.

The internationally recognized Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy® (IMSA) develops creative, ethical leaders in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. As a teaching and learning laboratory created by the State of Illinois, IMSA enrolls academically talented Illinois students (grades 10-12) in its advanced, residential college preparatory program, and it serves thousands of educators and students in Illinois and beyond through innovative instructional programs that foster imagination and inquiry. IMSA also advances education through research, groundbreaking ventures and strategic partnerships. (www.imsa.edu)

BATON ROUGE, La. – Last month, the Louisiana state officials approved a plan to evaluate K-12 classroom teachers based on student performance. This marks a significant rethinking of how a teacher’s performance is assessed.

Louisiana’s outgoing evaluation process gives almost all teachers favorable reviews, which doesn’t jibe with the dismal results produced by the state’s public education system. A 2011 federal report finds only 22 percent of Louisiana’s students perform at “proficient” levels.

Fifty percent of the new evaluation process, which takes effect next school year, will be based on “growth in student achievement,” reports the Associated Press. Louisiana’s educators will be rated as highly effective, effective, or ineffective.

Any teacher rated as ineffective “will be placed in an intensive assistance program and then must be formally evaluated,” reports the National Council on Teacher Quality, a nonpartisan organization that promotes education reform.

Teachers that continually fail to demonstrate improvement over two years could be fired.

The plan hasn’t taken effect yet, but Louisiana’s teacher unions have condemned the change as “a flawed idea” and a “fiasco” that will create a generation of “demoralized teachers.”

Such union hysterics can also be heard in Oklahoma and Ohio, two other states that will soon switch to teacher evaluation models that incorporate evidence of student learning.

Louisiana, Ohio and Oklahoma are part of the growing trend toward injecting more accountability into public education. Parents and taxpayers in 23 states have passed laws requiring that teachers be evaluated based – at least partly – on whether or not they are getting the job done in the classroom.

Sandi Jacobs, vice president of the National Council on Teacher Quality, believes several more states could join the list of reformers in 2012.

“I suspect there are some states that are poised to move in (early 2012),” Jacobs told EAG, citing Connecticut, New Mexico, and New Jersey as possible contenders.

“There’s a growing realization that the old way of evaluating teachers is really dysfunctional,” she said. “There was a lot of activity about teacher evaluations in 2011.The states saw that this is not a taboo topic anymore.”

Big changes in two years

As recently as 2009, only four states linked student learning to a teacher’s performance. Many schools determined a teacher’s effectiveness based on little more than the occasional classroom observation and the level of college degree he or she had.

Union collective bargaining agreements often complicated matters by stipulating rules that made honest assessments of teacher performance difficult, if not impossible.

Some stipulate that classroom observations must be done on schedule, so teachers can be ready to put forward their best effort on that day.

Some contracts say administrators cannot use video equipment to observe teachers without their knowledge, as if it’s somehow unfair to watch a teacher at work, doing what they generally do when they don’t think administrators are watching.

A lot has changed in two years. In addition to D.C. public schools, 17 of the 23 states that link student learning to teacher evaluations do so in a significant way, according to the NCTQ report.

The states that make student achievement a major part of teacher evaluations include: Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and Tennessee, as well as D.C. public schools.

Eleven New Jersey school districts have begun implementing a pilot program that could lead to teacher tenure and pay being linked to student outcomes, reports NJSpotlight.com.

But the teacher unions still wield considerable power in all three states - Connecticut, New Mexico and New Jersey - that are close to making evaluation changes, making success far from a sure thing.

Paul Gessing, president of the Rio Grande Foundation, said that while teacher evaluation reform will be on the agenda when New Mexico’s legislators convene for the upcoming 30-day session, it’ll be “a tall order to get it done.”

“New Mexico is resistant to any reform, even though we’re 49th in almost everything, including graduation rates,” Gessing told EAG.

Gessing said the state legislature is controlled by Democrats, who are mostly controlled by the teacher unions. As a result, “Everything here happens at a snail’s pace,” he said.

Obama’s ‘Race to the Top’ credited for new reforms

In its recent “State of the States” report, the NCTQ writes that tying student learning to teacher performance “marks an important shift in thinking about teacher quality” – away from teacher qualifications and toward “their effectiveness in the classroom and the results they get with students.”

NCTQ credits President Obama’s Race to the Top initiative for motivating states to rethink the evaluation process.

“The 2010 federal Race to the Top (RTTT) competition spurred unprecedented action among states to secure a share of $4 billion,” the report reads. To qualify for federal funds, states had to devise in-depth plans for improving their K-12 systems, many of which included new teacher evaluation systems at least partially based on student test scores.

The federal government is currently offering another reform incentive to states. States can apply for waivers from No Child Left Behind benchmarks in exchange for reform commitments, including how teachers are evaluated.

That’s happening in the Kentucky legislature, which seems likely to approve a bill that would standardize how teachers are evaluated throughout the state.

The bill’s sponsor, State Rep. Carl Rollins, a Democrat, said he supports basing 30 percent of a teacher’s evaluation on student achievement.

Unions support changes?

With the public generally supportive of accountability-based teacher evaluations, the nation’s two largest teacher unions are eager to be seen as cooperative.

“Sadly … we once again hear this myth about the union standing in the way of performance,” wrote Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, in a recent letter to the New York Times.

Ansley Jo DeVrieze, a junior Biology major and the daughter of Jay & Stephanie DeVrieze of Moline, and Lisa Marie Kistner, a GSR in Elementary Education and the daughter of Dale & Marianne Kistner,also of Moline, were among the of 284 students from Greenville College who qualified for honors at the conclusion of the fall semester.

To qualify for the Dean's List, freshmen are required to maintain a 3.5 grade point average (4.0 scale). Sophomores, juniors and seniors must have a 3.7 GPA. A College Scholar is a student who has made the Dean's List for three or more consecutive semesters.

Greenville College is a four-year Christian liberal arts school located in Greenville, IL., with over 1600 traditional, adult and graduate students. Founded in 1892, it is affiliated with the Free Methodist Church. For further information please visit www.greenville.edu.

WASHINGTON – Senator Chuck Grassley said today that Aloysius Richard TeKippe of Earlham has been selected for admission to the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, and Matt Truninger of Clinton has been selected for admission to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, for the 2012-2013 school year.

TeKipee will graduate in May from Earlham High School. He is the son of Krista and Ron TeKippe. Truninger graduated in 2009 from Northeast Middle/High School in Goose Lake. He is the son of Gina and Mark Truninger.

“Admission to the service academies is highly competitive and a great honor,” Grassley said. “Young people like Aloysius TeKippe and Matt Truninger work very hard to earn this kind of opportunity, and I join many others, no doubt, in wishing them well and expressing appreciation for their commitment to serving our nation.”

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has recognized students named to the Dean's List for the fall semester of the 2011-2012 academic year. Students who achieve at a high level academically are recognized by the dean at the close of each semester. To be eligible for the Dean's List, students must complete a minimum of 12 graded degree credits in that semester. Each university school or college sets its own GPA requirements for students to be eligible to receive the honor.